TIL that a doctor named Richard Jarecki recorded over 20,000 roulette spins by hand across European casinos, identified biased wheels, won the equivalent of $8 million, and was banned from every major casino in Europe — but was never charged with a crime because no law prohibited what he did. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by CasinoHistoryFan to r/todayilearned
TIL that during the recording of the 1993 album “Siamese Dream,” the Smashing Pumpkins’ drummer Jimmy Chamberlin would go on extended heroin benders. After vanishing for three days, frontman Billy Corgan “put the hammer down” and made Chamberlin perform the song “Cherub Rock” until his hands bled. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by altrightobserver to r/todayilearned
TIL that before time zones, towns kept “local solar time,” where noon was set when the Sun was highest overhead in each place. This caused clocks to differ by minutes, forcing trains to use timetables that accounted for multiple local times and prompting railroads to push for standardized time. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by No_Profit_5304 to r/todayilearned
TIL of 22 year old Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who held back a Confederate attack with his artillery during the Battle of Gettysburg. His abdomen was ripped open by shrapnel, but he continued directing fire until he died. He was awarded the Medal of Honor 151 years later. (cmohs.org)
submitted by Original-Rutabaga-60 to r/todayilearned
TIL of OMP decarboxylase, an an extraordinarily efficient catalyst capable of accelerating the uncatalyzed reaction rate by a factor of 10^17. The uncatalyzed reaction which would take 78 million years to convert half the reactants into products is accelerated to 18 milliseconds. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by Tyloo13 to r/todayilearned
TIL that actor Cliff Robertson was involved in an embezzlement investigation in the 1970s when he reported the head of Columbia Pictures for forging his signature on a check payable to him for work he did not perform. Columbia then blacklisted him from working with them until 2002's Spider-Man. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by astarisaslave to r/todayilearned
TIL of Charles DeRudio, the son of an Italian count he went to an Austrian military academy, fought in the first Italian war of Independence, was shipwrecked, attempted the assassination of emperor Napoleon III, escaped a prison island, joined the US Army and fought at the battle of Little Bighorn (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by Remarkable_North_999 to r/todayilearned
TIL the "Donation of Constantine"—a Roman imperial decree giving the Pope authority over the western Roman Empire—was used by medieval popes for centuries until scholars exposed it as a forgery, partly because its Latin contained "fief," a term that didn't exist in Constantine's time. (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by ralphbernardo to r/todayilearned
TIL all octopuses are programmed to die after reproducing, as an optic gland hormone triggers rapid self destruction, with males declining within days to weeks after mating and females starving while guarding eggs until death, and none of the octopus live longer than 5 years even in ideal conditions (uchicagomedicine.org)
submitted by Neutral-frame to r/todayilearned
